The All Service Color Guard presents the colors while leading the Veterans Day Parade in downtown El Paso Satuday. Photo by Heather Wilburn.
El Paso celebrates Veterans Day
Heather Wilburn, Special to The Monitor
Spectators lined the streets in downtown El Paso Saturday, waving and cheering in support of the Veterans Day Parade.
The parade began at the intersection of Myrtle and Florence streets at 10:45 a.m. and followed a route a little more than a mile long to San Jacinto Plaza, where a reviewing stand gave organizers and guests of honor a chance to get a good look at the action.
Brig. Gen. Robert H. Woods, commanding general of the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, and Command Sgt. Major Sidney D. Weatherspoon, 32nd AAMDC command sergeant major, took seats at the reviewing stand alongside Parade Marshal Jacinto Romo, a World War II veteran and El Paso Mayor John Cook.
Members of American Legion Post 692, El Paso, ride on the organization’s float during the Veterans Day Parade in downtown El Paso Saturday. Photo by Heather Wilburn.
Sgts. Maj. Katrina Najee, William Hambrick, and Thomas Sivak, and Master Sgts. Keith Entwistle and Royce Manic, all of the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy, acted as judges for high school bands and Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs participating in the event.
The All Service Color Guard led the procession, with the 62nd Army Band following close behind, entertaining the audience with “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “The Army Goes Rolling Along” during their stop in front of the reviewing stand. Several Soldiers drove different Army vehicles as part of the parade.
Manny Navarrete, Texas POW/MIA chairman for Veterans of Foreign Wars, explains the table set for five, one seat representing each branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, atop the Horizon VFW Post 10354 float in Saturday’s parade. Photo by Heather Wilburn.
In all, five floats and more than 70 organizations comprised the parade, including local chapters of Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America, Disabled Veterans of America, the Military Order of the Purple Heart and other veterans’ organizations and the organizations’ auxiliaries. Many area high school bands and JROTC programs, along with Boy Scout Troop 37 and the El Paso Young Marines, filled out the parade’s ranks.
“This is a beautiful day to do this,” said Cindy Van Bibber, assistant director at Fort Bliss National Cemetery. “This is my first year at the parade, and I’m glad I could come out. I’m honored to be here.”